State housing

Unlike that of public housing in many other countries, much of the NZ state housing of the 20th century was in the form of detached houses similar to the typical Kiwi house. Aerial photograph of a 1947 development in Oranga, Auckland.

State housing is a system of public housing in New Zealand, offering low-cost rental housing to residents on low to moderate incomes. Some 69,000 state houses are managed by Housing New Zealand Corporation,[1] most of which are owned by the Crown. In excess of 31,000 former state houses exist,[2] which are now privately owned after large-scale sell-offs during recent decades, since 2014, state housing has been part of a wider social housing system, which also includes privately owned low-cost housing.

A "state house" can also refer to the archetypal 1930s and 1940s state house: a detached 2–3 bedroom cottage-style house, with weatherboard or brick veneer cladding, a steep hipped tile roof, and multi-paned timber casement windows.[3] Thousands of these houses were built across New Zealand as state housing, and after World War II, as private housing when the government started selling their drawings and plans in an attempt to hasten building construction,[4][5] these houses, also known as "ex-state houses" to distinguish them from modern state housing, have a reputation of being well-built and are very sought after by real estate buyers, especially after the leaky homes crisis of the 1990s and 2000s hit buyer confidence in newer stock.[6]

Urban working-class housing in New Zealand in the 19th century was of poor quality, with overcrowding, flimsy construction, little public space, often-polluted water, and lack of facilities for disposal of rubbish or effluent. Local bodies were not interested in enforcing existing regulations, such as minimum street widths, which might have improved housing, or in prosecuting slum landlords.[7]

The Liberal Government, first elected in 1890, believed that the slums would cease to be a problem as workers moved to the country to become farmers or small town merchants. Instead, the cities continued to grow. A parallel idea of making Government-owned land on the outskirts of cities available for workers to create smallholdings failed to gain traction because the cheap commuter trains which might have transported them to their workplaces were not established, and the Government did not provide loans for building or allow the purchase of freehold land in the areas.[8]

13 Patrick Street in Petone was one of the first houses constructed under the 1905 Workers' Dwellings Act

Prime Minister Richard Seddon introduced the Workers' Dwellings Act in 1905 to provide well-built suburban houses for workers who earned less than £156 per annum, he argued that these houses would prevent the decline of living standards in New Zealand and increase the money available to workers without increasing the costs to employers. By breaking private landlords' control over rental housing, housing costs for everyone would decline, the bill passed by 64 votes to 2, despite criticism over the cost of the scheme, the distance the houses would be from workplaces, particularly ports, and the lack of provision for Māori. Seddon estimated that 5,000 houses would be built under the scheme.[9]

The Act allowed for workers to rent weekly, lease for 50 years with a right of renewal, or lease with the right to buy over a period ranging between 25 and 41 years; in practice, the Government did not initially advertise the weekly rental, but emphasised the lease with the right to buy. The Act specified that workers could be male or female, but women were discouraged from applying for the houses because the Government was concerned that "houses of ill-repute" might be established.[10]

The standard of materials and construction was high, because the Government was determined that the houses would not become slums, the Act specified that the rent was to be 5% per annum of the capital cost of the house and land, together with insurance and rates. The initial specification was that houses should cost no more than £300, but this was raised to £350-400, depending on construction materials, by the 1905 Amendment Act,[11] this resulted in weekly rents ranging between 10s 6d and 12s 7d.[12] All the houses had five rooms—a living room, a kitchen/dining room, and three bedrooms—as well as a bathroom, this allowed boys and girls to be given separate bedrooms from each other. Some houses were built of wood, some of concrete, and some of brick.[13]

Twenty-five houses were built at Petone in 1905. Only four applications were received to lease them. Workers could reach Wellington with a 20-minute walk followed by a 30-minute train ride, but the train cost another two shillings a week, this left a family no better off than continuing to rent in Wellington.[14] The Government was forced to allow weekly tenancies and to raise the maximum income level[15] to attract families to the houses. Other settlements such as the one in Belleknowes, Dunedin also had trouble finding renters. Houses built in central suburbs, such as the eight in Newtown and twelve in Sydenham, New Zealand, attracted tenants much more readily.[16][17]

After Seddon's death in 1906, the Government Advances to Workers Act allowed urban landowners to borrow up to £450 from the Government at low interest rates to build their own houses, this proved much more popular than the state housing system. A total of only 126 houses were built under the Workers' Dwellings Act by 1910. A replacement Workers' Dwelling Act in that year allowed landless urban workers to build a house on a deposit of just £10. While it still allowed for workers to rent or lease their homes from the Government, applicants who were willing to buy were favoured, the state houses were sold by the Reform Government from 1912 onwards.[18][19]

Following a campaign against slums by the newspaper New Zealand Truth, and the realisation that lending for mortgages was not effective to provide housing to replace them, the Finance Minister Walter Nash announced in the 1936 Budget that 5000 state houses would be built, the houses would be provided by private enterprise, with a Department of Housing Construction set up to oversee the building and the State Advances Corporation to manage the houses. The government intended not only to provide housing, but to stimulate jobs and manufacturing with the construction of the houses, which were to be built from New Zealand materials as far as possible.[21]

MP John A. Lee was responsible for the programme (and for the use of cheap Reserve Bank 1% credit), but as he was an undersecretary rather than a minister he had limited authority. Sir James Fletcher of Fletcher Construction was a major participant.

The houses were built in the suburbs, not in the inner cities where the slums were, this was in part because the cost of building in the inner cities was higher, and in part because the government believed that children were better raised in suburban sections rather than on the streets.[22] The urban poor also were largely unable to afford the rents for the new state houses, the government favoured married couples with at least one child as tenants to encourage an increase in the birth rate.[23] Māori were excluded, in part because they could not afford the rentals, but also because the government believed the races should be kept apart.[24]

The Dixon Street Flats in Wellington

Almost all of the state houses built by the Labour Government were detached, with some land on which vegetables could be grown and perhaps a few animals kept. A few were semi-detached, with two or four houses sharing a section. Only about 1.5% of the 30,000 houses constructed by 31 March 1949 were in blocks of flats, all of them in Auckland or the greater Wellington area. The first to be built were the low rise family flats in Berhampore and the largest block was the ten-storey Dixon Street Flats in central Wellington containing 115 one bedroomed flats for couples and single people.[25]

The first of the new state houses was completed at 12 Fife Lane in Miramar, Wellington, in 1937, the Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage and several cabinet ministers carried furniture into the house and handed the keys to the tenants. For the opening of the first state house in each major city, a group of cabinet ministers repeated this ceremony,[26] the first tenants, David and Mary McGregor, paid £1 10s 3d ($3.03) rent for 12 Fife Lane, about one-third of their £4 7s 9d ($8.78) weekly income.[27]

The waiting list for state houses was 10,000 in February 1939. House building could not keep up with the demand, and almost stopped in 1942 as resources were reallocated to meet the needs of the war effort, although construction resumed in 1944, by the time the war ended in August 1945 the waiting list had grown to 30,000. The government set up transit camps to provide interim accommodation for families waiting for state houses.[28] Priority went to returned soldiers.[29]

In 1944, the Department of Native Affairs produced a report on the poor housing conditions of Māori in the Auckland suburb of Panmure, this and similar reports caused a change of policy; the government would now build state houses for Māori, to be jointly managed by the State Advances Corporation and the Department of Maori Affairs, which had been renamed in the interim. The new policy was to intersperse Māori and Pakeha (New Zealanders of European ancestry) households ("pepper-potting"), so that Māori could "adjust themselves ... to the pakeha way of living". A rare exception to the interspersal policy was in Waiwhetu in Lower Hutt, where state houses were built around a central marae.[30]

Although the National Party had opposed state housing in the 1938 election campaign, suggesting that it was a step towards the nationalisation of private property, in 1949 it promised to continue building state houses but also to allow tenants to buy them. Most people wanted to own their own homes, and this policy helped National win the election.[31]

A 1930s state house layout. This is an early design with the meals recess in the living room; later state house plans moved the meals recess to the kitchen.

State houses at Arapuni, Waikato, showing many of the exterior features typical of 1930s and 1940s state houses.

The state houses were constructed using over 400 designs, so that no two houses in a given area were identical, they were small by today's standards - the typical floor area was 81.9 m2 (882 sq ft) for a two-bedroom house and 98.0 m2 (1,055 sq ft) for a three-bedroom house.[32] The houses had timber frames and floors supported by piles and a perimeter wall. Exterior cladding was typically timber weatherboard, brick veneer, or asbestos-cement sheets or shingles. Roofs were typically hip or gable with a steep pitch (30 degrees), and were clad with concrete or clay tiles, or asbestos-cement sheets. Windows on state houses were of the timber casement type, with three panes vertically in larger windows and two panes in smaller windows.

The living room was considered the social and recreational hub of the house; it was the largest room and faced north to catch the most possible sun. The kitchen faced east to catch the morning sun, while bedrooms faced either east, north or west to catch sun for part of the day. Where possible, the private zones of the bedrooms, bathroom and laundry were on a different side of the house from the public zones of the kitchen and living room. Often the kitchen, laundry, bathroom and toilet were grouped together to reduce plumbing costs, the first state houses had the dining area in the living room; after initial feedback from tenants, the dining area was moved to the kitchen.[33] Although the original plans included space for a garage, this was not included in the houses that were built, but a tool shed was provided to encourage tenants to grow a vegetable garden,[34] on sloping sites, the tool shed and the laundry were typically placed underneath the house.

Each state house had modern amenities for their time; bedrooms were equipped with built-in wardrobes, hot water was heated by an electric cylinder, and the kitchen was equipped with an electric range.[35] In areas where electricity was not yet available, a chip heater on wetback and a coal range were installed, as washing machines and refrigerators were not commonplace in the 1930s and 1940s, the laundry was fitted with a copper boiler and two concrete tubs, while the kitchen was fitted with a food safe. Space heating was accomplished by an open fire in the living room - New Zealand's electricity supply was considered too unreliable for large-scale space heating before the 1950s.

In 1950, the waiting list for state houses was 45,000, and a total of 30,000 houses had been built, the National Government increased rents for new tenants to make state housing less desirable compared with private renting, and an income limit of £520 per annum was set to ensure that only those on fairly modest incomes could rent a state house. A points system was introduced to decide which applicants for houses had the greatest need, this system was refined in 1973 and continued until 1992. The Government also introduced the sale of state houses to their occupants in August 1950, they offered 40-year mortgages on a 5% deposit at 4% interest, or 3% if the tenant agreed to continuously own and occupy the property. Many tenants were content to continue to rent with their guaranteed tenancies. By 1957, about 30% of the available houses had sold, which was considerably less than the government hoped.[36]

During the 1950s, escalating building costs saw the standard of state housing construction to fall. Suburbs of state houses built of cheaper building materials were built in greenfield areas. Houses were more uniform in design than individual, and there was a large increase in the proportion of duplex and multi-unit dwellings.[37]

The policy of interspersing Māori and pakeha tenants ceased in the 1970s. Māori became concentrated in the larger state housing suburbs.[39]

In 1974, under the Third Labour Government, the State Advances Corporation, responsible for administration, and the Housing Division of the Ministry of Works, responsible for construction of state houses, merged to form the Housing Corporation of New Zealand.[40]

State house rental rates were fixed by the "fair rent" provisions of the 1955 Tenancy Act to reflect the capital cost of the house and the outgoings on it. While rents increased over the years, the rental was rebated according to the family's income and size; in 1974, the rents were fixed at the lower of the "fair rent" value or one-sixth of the household income. By the mid 1980s, the "fair rent" was about half the rental for an equivalent private property, the Third National Government of Robert Muldoon set a time limit for new tenants. After six years was up, they had a year to agree to buy the house or move out, the following Labour Government abandoned this system, but set rentals to a quarter of the household income.[41]

A peak of 70,000 state rental houses was reached in the early 1990s.[43]

In 1991 the fourth National government raised state house rentals to "market levels" amid much controversy, the Housing Corporation was now expected to make a profit. At the same time, welfare payments were reduced, for those who could not afford the rent, the Department of Social Welfare would pay an accommodation supplement of 65 percent of the difference between the new rent and one quarter of the household income. The intention was to encourage able-bodied people to look for jobs, to remove the advantage of living in a state house over living in private rental accommodation, and to force people living in houses larger than they needed to move to smaller ones.[44]

For many state house tenants, the new policies reduced their standards of living. Foodbanks increased in number in state housing areas, and overcrowding became a problem as some families shared houses. Mounting opposition included a partial rent strike, organised by the State Housing Action Coalition (SHAC), during which tenants refused to pay more than 25% of their income in rent;[45][46] in response, in 1996 the government increased the accommodation supplement to 70 percent, and restored the idea of "social objectives" rather than profit for the Housing Corporation.[47]

A Home Buy scheme was introduced from 1996 to 1999, which allowed tenants to buy their state home with a five percent deposit, an 85 percent loan from the government, and a ten percent suspensory loan. 1800 houses were sold under this scheme, and 10,000 more sold in this period.[48] However protests continued, culminating in the high profile eviction of a SHAC rent striker during the 1999 election campaign.[49]

The Fifth Labour Government, elected in 1999, placed a moratorium on state house sales and re-established the income-related rents; in 2001, Housing New Zealand, the Housing Corporation, and part of the Ministry of Social Policy were combined into the Housing New Zealand Corporation, so that policy and administration for state housing are controlled by a single agency.[50]

A program to modernise state houses was introduced after 1999. Existing houses are insulated, the layout is improved, and in many cases the kitchen and bathroom are replaced.[51] A "Community Renewal" program, started in 2001, attempts to build supportive networks amongst residents of state housing areas, reduce crime and increase safety, and improve community services.[52]

Rents are now limited to 25 percent of net household income for tenants earning up to the rate of New Zealand Superannuation (for 2013/14, this is $357.42 per week for singles, $549.88 combined per week for couples). For those earning more than the rate of NZ Super, rent is 25 percent on income up to the NZ Super rate, then 50 percent on income above this up to the property's market rent.[53]

The Fifth National Government, elected in 2008, has carried out a programme of incremental reforms of state housing; in 2011, in the Auckland suburb of Glen Innes Housing New Zealand began a redevelopment process of 156 state properties. The redevelopment when completed will leave 78 houses owned by Housing New Zealand and the rest sold privately,[54] the redevelopment process has sparked over two years of protests and scores of arrests, including of Mana Party leader Hone Harawira.[55] In 2012 it closed Housing New Zealand's local offices to tenants and directed all enquiries to a call centre.[56] Beginning in October 2013, the FirstHome scheme aims to sell 100 homes a year to first home buyers,[57] from 14 April 2014 onwards all state housing tenancies will be reviewable, ending a previous "house for life" policy.[58]

In January 2015, in his state of the nation speech, John Key announced plans to reduce the government's involvement in providing social housing, with some of the responsibility for providing housing to be passed to community housing providers, as part of the plan, 2,000 state houses will be sold by January 2016, and up to 8,000 properties will be sold by 2017. Under the plan, community housing groups would have access to government funding for income-related rents. Policy officials' advice to the government was that the policy had a number of risks, particularly around the capability of community housing providers to have the capacity to ramp up their services, and whether tenants could be protected from unfair treatment.[59]

The Sixth Labour Government, elected in 2017, has formally moved to stop the sell-off of state houses by issuing an instruction to Housing New Zealand to cancel the sale of the homes in December 2017, the Ministry has listed pressures in the private rental market, population growth and decline in home ownership as key factors. Māori households were over-represented in social housing, making up 36 percent of tenants and 43 percent of the housing register.[60]

1.
Oranga
–
Oranga is a small residential suburb in Auckland, New Zealand. The name is from the Maori noun oranga, meaning survivor, food, livelihood, welfare, health and it used to be a state housing neighbourhood for low-income families, but it is rapidly gentrifying. Private investors have bought many of the houses for renovation. Real estate agents increasingly advertise these houses as belonging to the suburb of One Tree Hill. Local facilities include Oranga Kindergarten, and Oranga Primary School, the local secondary schools are One Tree Hill College, Marcellin College and Onehunga High School

2.
Auckland
–
Auckland is a city in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the most populous area in the country. Auckland has a population of 1,495,000, which constitutes 32 percent of New Zealands population, a diverse and multicultural city, Auckland is home to the largest Polynesian population in the world. It has also been called Ākarana, the Māori pronunciation of Auckland, the Auckland urban area ranges to Waiwera in the north, Kumeu in the northwest, and Runciman in the south. It is not contiguous, the section from Waiwera to Whangaparāoa Peninsula is separate from its nearest neighbouring suburb of Long Bay, the surrounding hills are covered in rainforest and the landscape is dotted with dozens of dormant volcanic cones. The central part of the area occupies a narrow isthmus between the Manukau Harbour on the Tasman Sea and the Waitemata Harbour on the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the few cities in the world to have harbours on two major bodies of water. The isthmus on which Auckland resides was first settled around 1350 and was valued for its rich, Māori population in the area is estimated to have peaked at 20,000 before the arrival of Europeans. After a British colony was established in 1840, the new Governor of New Zealand, William Hobson and he named the area Auckland for George Eden, Earl of Auckland, British First Lord of the Admiralty. It was replaced as the capital in 1865, but immigration to the new city stayed strong, today, Aucklands Central Business District is the major financial centre of New Zealand. Auckland is classified as a Beta World City because of its importance in finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts, education and tourism. Aucklands landmarks such as the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, the Harbour Bridge, the Sky Tower, the isthmus was settled by Māori around 1350, and was valued for its rich and fertile land. Many pā were created, mainly on the volcanic peaks, Māori population in the area is estimated to have been about 20,000 people before the arrival of Europeans. As a result, the region had relatively low numbers of Māori when European settlement of New Zealand began, there is, however, nothing to suggest that this was the result of a deliberate European policy. Auckland was officially declared New Zealands capital in 1841 and the transfer of the administration from Russell in the Bay of Islands was completed in 1842. However, even in 1840 Port Nicholson was seen as a choice for an administrative capital because of its proximity to the South Island. After losing its status as capital, Auckland remained the city of the Auckland Province until the provincial system was abolished in 1876. Each of the four settlements had about 800 settlers, the men being fully armed in case of emergency but spent nearly all their time breaking in the land and establishing roads

3.
Public housing
–
Public housing may be a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. Social housing can also be seen as a remedy to housing inequality. Some social housing organizations construct for purchase, particularly in Spain, although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, definitions of poverty and other criteria for allocation vary within different contexts. The origins of municipal housing lie in the urban population increase caused by the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century. In the large cities of the period, many commentators, such as Octavia Hill and Charles Booth reported on the squalor, sickness. Henry Mayhew, visiting Bethnal Green, wrote in the The Morning Chronicle, roads were unmade, often mere alleys, houses small and without foundations, subdivided and often around unpaved courts. An almost total lack of drainage and sewerage was made worse by the ponds formed by the excavation of brickearth. Pigs and cows in back yards, noxious trades like boiling tripe, melting tallow, or preparing cats meat, and slaughter houses, dustheaps, and lakes of putrefying night soil added to the filth. Some philanthropists began to provide housing in tenement blocks, and some factory owners built entire villages for their workers, such as Saltaire in 1853 and it was in 1885, after the report from a Royal Commission in England, that the state first took an interest. This led to the Housing of the Working Classes Act of 1885, nearly 6,000 individuals were crammed into the packed streets, where one child in four died before his or her first birthday. Arthur Morrison wrote the influential A Child of the Jago, an account of the life of a child in the slum, construction of the Boundary Estate was begun in 1890 by the Metropolitan Board of Works and completed by the recently formed London County Council in 1900. The success of this project spurred many local councils to embark on similar construction schemes in the early 20th century. The Arts and Crafts movement and Ebenezer Howards Garden city ideas led to the leafy London County Council cottage estates such as firstly Totterdown Fields and later Wormholt and Old Oak. The First World War indirectly provided a new impetus, when the physical health. In 1916, 41% of conscripts were unfit to serve, Public housing projects were tried out in some European countries and the United States in the 1930s, but only became widespread globally after the Second World War. Minha Casa Minha Vida, the Brazilian governments social housing program, was launched in March 2009 with a budget of R$36 billion to one million homes. The second stage of the program, included within the government Growth Acceleration Program was announced in March 2010 and this stage foresees the construction of a further two million homes. Of the total 3 million homes,1, all funds for Minha Casa Minha Vida properties are provided by the Brazilian public bank, Caixa Econômica Federal

4.
Casement window
–
A casement is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges. Casement windows are hinged at the side and they are used singly or in pairs within a common frame, in which case they are hinged on the outside. Casement windows are often held open using a casement stay, windows hinged at the top are referred to as awning windows, and ones hinged at the bottom are called hoppers. In the UK, casement windows were common before the window was introduced. These casement windows usually were hinged on the side, and opened inward, by the start of the Victorian era, opening casements and frames were constructed from timber in their entirety. The windows were covered by functional exterior shutters, which opened outward, variants of casement windows are still the norm in many European countries. They are opened with a crank, lever, or cam handle, a crank, stay, or friction hinge is necessary when the window opens outward, to hold the window in position despite wind. Often the glass panes are set in a frame and sealed with beveled putty or glazing compound to secure the glass. Casement windows generally have lower air leakage rates than sliding windows because the sash closes by pressing against the frame, casement windows are also excellent for natural ventilation strategies, especially in hot climates. They can be hinged to open outward and angled in order to direct breezes into the building

5.
Liberal Government of New Zealand
–
The Liberal Government of New Zealand was the first responsible government in New Zealand politics organised along party lines. The government formed following the founding of the Liberal Party and took office on the 24 January 1891, to date, it is the longest serving government in New Zealands history. The government was also notable for enacting significant social and economic changes, such as the Old Age Pensions Act. One historian described the policies of the government as a revolution in the relationship between the government and the people, passed the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1894. This established a conciliation and compulsory arbitration system with the aim of providing the unions with the means of protecting their members, the act encouraged the growth of unions by limiting labour representation at the arbitration court to registered unions. Legislation was introduced to protect groups, such as the gumdiggers, miners, shop assistants, shearers. A department of labour was established to ensure improvements in working conditions took place to inspect shearing sheds, shops, factories. The new department helped to reduce unemployment by transporting labourers to jobs, Factory hours and working conditions were strictly regulated and children were removed from factories. The 1891 Factory Act gave legal definition to a factory, by 1896,4,600 factories with 31,000 workers and a further 7,000 shop assistants were registered with the Department of Labour. The 1892 Shop-Assistants Act dealt with sanitation and inspection and it also introduced a compulsory half-holiday for retail workers. The Wages Protection Bill was designed to protect workers’ wage packets from arbitrary deductions by employers, the Shipping and Seamen’s Act specified minimum crews and safety conditions for shipping. The public service was expanded between 1891 and 1911. By 1912, more than 40,000 people were on the state’s payroll, the Coal Mines Act established state mines to compete directly with privately owned mines. The Fires Brigades Act increased subsidies for volunteer fire brigades, Public works schemes such as road construction were encouraged and helped to reduce unemployment. A land and income tax bill was passed which introduced direct taxation as well as a land tax. The bill also repealed the former inequitable property tax, a state fire insurance office and state coal mines with their own sale depots were established. The Truck Act forced all employers to pay in cash instead of goods, the Coal Mines Act authorised the government to purchase two West Coast mines. The Contractors and Workmen’s Liens Bill protected the rights of workers and contractors for payment for work done, forty-eight hours a week was established by law as the normal working time for men in factories

6.
Richard Seddon
–
Richard John Seddon PC is to date the longest-serving Prime Minister of New Zealand. He is regarded as one of New Zealands greatest political leaders, sometimes derisively known as King Dick for his autocratic style, Seddon dominated the Liberal government for thirteen years, achieving many social and economic changes. Seddon was born in Eccleston near St Helens, Lancashire, England in 1845 and his father Thomas Seddon was a school headmaster, and his mother Jane Lindsay was a teacher. They married on 8 February 1842 at Christ Church, Eccleston and their children were, Thomas born 1842, who died 1849 Phoebe Ellen born 1843 died 1925 in New Zealand. Despite this background, Seddon did not perform well at school, despite his parents attempt to give him a classical education, Seddon developed an interest in engineering, but was removed from school at age 12. After working on his grandfather Richards farm at Barrow Nook Hall for two years, Seddon was an apprentice at Daglishs Foundry in St Helens and he later worked at Vauxhall foundry in Liverpool, where he attained a Board of Trade Certificate as a mechanical engineer. On 15 June 1862, at the age of 16, Seddon decided to emigrate to Australia and he later provided his reasoning, A restlessness to get away to see new, broad lands seized me, My work was irksome. He entered the workshops at Melbourne, Victoria. He was caught by the fever and went to Bendigo. He did not meet with any great success, in either 1865 or 1866, he became engaged to Louisa Jane Spotswood, but her family would not permit marriage until Seddon was more financially secure. In 1866, Seddon moved to New Zealands West Coast, initially, he worked the goldfields in Waimea. He is believed to have prospered here, and he returned briefly to Melbourne to marry Louisa and he established a store, and then expanded his business to include the sale of alcohol, becoming a publican. He was followed to the West Coast by his older sister Phoebe, younger brothers Edward and Jim, Phoebe married William Cunliffe on 9 May 1863 at Holy Trinity Church Eccleston. Their son Bill was Labour MP David Cunliffes grandfather, making Richard Seddon David Cunliffes great-great-uncle, Seddons first real involvement with politics was with various local bodies, such as the Arahura Road Board. In 1874 elected to the council of Westland Province, representing Arahura and he lost this position with the abolition of the provinces in 1876. Gradually, Seddon became known along the West Coast as an advocate for rights and interests. In 1877, Seddon was elected as the first Mayor of Kumara and he had staked a claim in Kumara the previous year, and had shortly afterwards moved his business there. Despite occasional financial troubles, his career prospered

7.
Petone
–
Petone is a large suburb of Lower Hutt, in the Wellington Region of New Zealands North Island. It is located at the end of the Hutt Valley. The name, from the Māori Pito-one, means end of the sand beach, Petone was first settled by Europeans in 1840, making it one of the oldest settlements in the Wellington Region. It became a borough in 1888, and merged with Hutt City in 1989, Petone was the first European settlement in the Wellington region and retains many historical buildings and landmarks. A substantial Maori pa was already established at Pito-one close to the beach when the first European settlers arrived in the region, the first European settlers in large numbers arrived on 22 January 1840, on the ship Aurora carrying 25 married couples,36 single persons and 40 children. The locality was described as, sandy beach, which is two miles long. Bounded on either side by wooded hills from 300 to 400 feet in height and it was covered in high forest to within a mile and a half of the beach, when swamps full of flax and a belt of sand hummocks intervened. The Maori from the pa came to meet them, one passengers diary recording. Together with sons and endless relatives and a pa full of natives who were delighted to greet us with Kapai-te-Pakeha, a beach settlement of small wooden houses and tents was established, which was initially called Britannia. The earliest European settlers found life hard, nevertheless, the settlement grew, the population of Pito-one and Hutt in 1845 was given as 649, compared to, Town of Wellington of 2,667. In 1850 the Maori pa at Pito-one was described as, the largest and best fortified within the District of Wellington and their cultivations of kumara and maize look well and the residents, in point of comfort and wealth, are better off than any of the Port Nicholson natives. There was horse racing at Pito-one Beach on 20 October 1842, the site for the principal settlement in the area was later designated as Thorndon around the shores of what is now the city of Wellington, New Zealands capital. Petone gained borough status in 1888, the majority of these closed in the 1970s and 1980s, resulting in gradual economic decline. Petone Borough amalgamated with Lower Hutt as a result of the government reform in 1989. The suburb has since enjoyed renewed economic growth, using its early European heritage as a draw for tourists and gaining many cafes and it is home of the Petone Rugby Club which has been one of the worlds leading clubs since 1885. Some of New Zealands first State housing was constructed in Petone in 1906, the local tourist office provides a guide showing where these houses are located. The Te Puna Wai Ora in Buick Street provides pure untreated artesian water from taps and it is free, highly valued and consumers travel long distances to collect the water for drinking purposes. Petone Community Library access via Jackson Street, the purpose of the fair is not only to raise the profile of Petone and provide an enjoyable day out, but to raise money for charity

8.
Belleknowes
–
City Rise is an inner suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. One of the older suburbs, it is, as its name suggests, centred on the slopes which lie close to the city centre. Extensive views across the city can be gained from much of City Rise. Some parts of the slopes at one time carried the name Fernhill. Other notable streets on the City Rise include High Street, Rattray Street, Stafford Street, Arthur Street, Canongate, City Rise contains many of the citys earliest grand residences, notably along High Street and streets close to it. Many of these buildings were built on money which flowed into the infant city at the time of the Central Otago Gold Rush of 1861-2, notable houses include Threave, Moata, and Colquhouns, among many others. The suburb is bounded by the city to the east and northeast, by Kensington to the south. The small suburb of Belleknowes lies immediately to the north, beyond which is Roslyn, the suburb is mainly residential, though it also has strong links with the citys education. Otago Boys High School lies close to Stuart Street in the north of City Rise, Otago Girls High School is located closer to the city centre at the edge of City Rise. Arthur Street School is also located in the suburb, close to Otago Boys High School, next to Arthur Street Schools grounds is a monument on what was the site of Dunedins first cemetery, Arthur Street Cemetery. There is very little industry centred on City Rise, the most notable exception being Speights Brewery, immediately above this is St. Josephs Cathedral, the citys Roman Catholic cathedral. The tramway was notable for being only the second of its type in the world, Belleknowes is a smaller suburb, nestled within the Town Belt close to the points where City Rise, Mornington, and Roslyn meet. Its most notable feature is Belleknowes Golf Course, the closest golf course to the centre of Dunedin, also of note within the suburb are several parks such as Jubilee Park and Robin Hood Park, the latter of which is home to the Beverly-Begg Observatory

9.
Newtown, New Zealand
–
The suburb of Newtown lies in the southern part of Wellington in New Zealand. It lies east of Vogeltown, between Mount Cook and Berhampore, the main thoroughfares of Newtown are Riddiford St, leading from Mount Cook to Berhampore and Melrose, and Constable St, leading from Newtown to Kilbirnie. The population at the last census was recorded as 8,418, the Wellington City Council District Plan identifies Newtown as a suburb with an identifiable or distinct character. Because of Newtowns special character only one household units are allowed in certain areas, resource consent is needed to put two or more household units on a site. Government House on Rugby Street, Wellington Hospital located on Riddiford Street, Newtown Park is located next to the Zoo, off Roy Street and provides a venue for athletics and football. The Park consists of a 400m all-weather running track, grandstand, changing rooms, community rooms, Wellington City Council has spent $3.6 million on modernising facilities at Newtown Park to meet current and future needs for the athletics and soccer sports codes, and the wider community. Newtown School is a primary school located in the heart of the suburb. For more than 127 years, this school has educated the children of Newtown, the annual Newtown Festival takes place over ten days, culminating in the Newtown Festival Street Fair which is usually held on International Childrens Day. Organised by The Newtown Residents Association for the past 18 years, the 2014 Newtown Festival was attended by an estimated 80,000 people. Community in a Wellington Suburb edited by Martin Doyle ISBN 0-909036-73-X History of Newtown & Berhampore

10.
Sydenham, New Zealand
–
Sydenham is an inner suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand, located two kilometres south of the city centre, on and around the city’s main street, Colombo Street. It is a residential, retail and light industrial suburb, the crockery shop, in turn, was named after the north-west Kent town of Sydenham, which is now a London suburb within the London Borough of Lewisham. The first council and its first mayor, Mayor George Booth, were elected in 1877, on 31 March 1903, the borough amalgamated with the City of Christchurch and became a suburb. At that time Sydenham already had its own swimming-baths, fire-engine, cemetery, apart from the large cities, Sydenham was the largest borough in New Zealand at the time. Sydenham is separated from the city by the South Island Main Trunk Railway. State Highway 73 runs through the part of Sydenham. The southern boundary of Sydenham is Tennyson Street, Sydenham has a number of heritage buildings registered by Heritage New Zealand, with some already lost or to be lost due to the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Woolstore in Durham Street is the only Category I heritage building, nazareth House Chapel is located west of Sydenham Park and belongs to a retirement village. Blackheath Place are residential brick terrace houses that are uncommon in New Zealand. Three registered cottages are located in Shelley and Tennyson Streets, Sydenham Park is public open space that also acts as the home ground for Sydenham Cricket Club, Sydenham Hockey Club and Sydenham Rugby Club. All three clubs have provided players for their respective New Zealand teams and these including Stephen Fleming for cricket, John Radovonich for hockey and Charlie Oliver for rugby union

11.
First Labour Government of New Zealand
–
The First Labour Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 1935 to 1949. The government came to power towards the end of, and as a result of, the Great Depression of the 1930s, significant improvements in working conditions took place, partly through greater competition for labour and partly through legislative provisions. Legislation in 1945 and 1946 made the new 40-hour workweek almost universal, in industry as well as in shops and offices. Relief jobs were abolished and in 1936 and 1937, sustenance payment took the place of relief work, and during those years an average of 20,000 received it. Sustenance rates of pay were increased by amounts of up to 100% “to provide the transition to full employment on public works. ”Provision was also made for the registration of trade unions. This new, more progressive system led to improvements in the pay, the Agricultural Workers Act improved conditions for rural labourers by setting a minimum rate of pay and required a decent level of living conditions. The Shops and Officers Amendment Act specified a maximum workweek of forty-four hours for working in banks. The Industrial Efficiency Bill gave the government wide powers to regulate industries, a large public works programme was initiated to provide employment on full wages instead of relief. This expanded the range of standards of pay and working conditions, benefiting the semi-skilled, those without craft training. Between 1935 and 1938, trade union membership rose to a figure “nearly two and half times that of the year of 1929, ” encouraged by the Labour governments industrial policies. In 1936, the government graduated the wages of young people so that year by year their rate of pay automatically increased until it reached a standard wage when they reached the age of 21. Relief workers were granted award wages, the Court of Arbitration was required in 1936 to lay down in its awards and agreements a basic wage sufficient to keep a man, his wife and three children in a fair and reasonable standard of comfort. A Profiteering Prevention Act was passed, the Minister of Mines was empowered to establish central rescue stations in mines. Improved rates of compensation were introduced for injured workers, penal rates of pay were introduced for weekend work and overtime. The Minimum Wage Act established a minimum wage for all workers aged twenty-one, Legislative provision was made in 1944 for an annual two weeks holiday for all workers. Underground mine workers were granted a seven-hour workday in 1948 and 1949, compensation was increased for the dependents of deceased workers. The government experimented with cooperative shops in the rapidly expanding post-war suburbs, a National Employment Service was established with the principal function of promoting and maintaining full employment. A Home Aid Service was established, a new Factories Act took measures against sweating and contained detailed provisions regarding workplace safety, dangerous liquids, protection from machinery, means of access, and fire-escapes

12.
Walter Nash
–
He is noted for his long period of service, having been associated with the Labour Party since its creation. Leaving office at 78 years of age, Nash is to date New Zealands most elderly prime minister, Nash was born in Kidderminster, a town in the English county of Worcestershire. He was born into a family and his father was an alcoholic. Nash performed well at school and won a scholarship to King Charles I Grammar School, Nash began employment as a clerk, initially with a lawyer in Kidderminster and then at a factory near Birmingham. In 1906 Nash married Lottie May Eaton and established a shop and he became highly active in his community, participating in a large number of societies and clubs. He also attended school to further his education. By 1908, however, problems began to arise, his wife, in addition an economic recession in the following year seriously harmed his business. The family decided to leave England, settling on New Zealand as a destination, after arriving in Wellington, in May 1909, Nash became secretary to a local tailor. His wife had two more sons, Nashs religious and political beliefs also began to solidify at this point, with the strong Christian faith he received from his mother being merged with a growing belief in socialism. Nash would remain a Christian Socialist for the remainder of his life and his political opinions were influenced by his friendship with prominent New Zealand socialists such as Michael Joseph Savage, Bob Semple and Harry Holland. Nash also became a committed pacifist, Nashs financial situation deteriorated, however, when the tailors firm that he worked for declined. Nash and his moved to Palmerston North where he became a salesman for a wool. Later he established a company in New Plymouth along with Bill Besley. Nash had briefly been involved with the first Labour Party, established in 1910, in 1918, however, he helped to establish the New Plymouth branch of the modern New Zealand Labour Party and he became highly active. The following year Nash was elected to the national executive. In 1920 Nash and his wife travelled to Europe, attending various socialist conferences, when they returned to New Zealand, in January 1921, Nash was fined for importing seditious literature. Despite the reputation that this gave him, among his fellow socialists. In 1922, a year after he had returned to Wellington, on arrival the party was found to have an all up debt of £220

13.
John A. Lee
–
John Alfred Alexander Lee DCM was a New Zealand politician and writer. He is one of the more prominent avowed socialists in New Zealands political history, Lee was born in Dunedin in 1891, the son of Alfred Lee and Mary Isabella Taylor. His parents were not married, and at the time of his birth, they had separated due to his fathers gambling. Lees mother had little income, and the family experienced financial hardship. Lee did not do well at school, and he was often truant, in 1905, he left school to work, and became involved in petty crime. In 1908, he was convicted of theft, and served time at a school for juvenile delinquents. He attempted to escape several times, and was eventually successful, after wandering the country for a time, he found work in Raetihi, but was then jailed for liquor smuggling and breaking and entering. Three years after being released, Lee enlisted in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for action at Messines in June 1917, but was repatriated after being wounded in March 1918 and losing his left arm. He arrived back in New Zealand in July 1919, and established a small business, not long after returning home, Lee became active in the Labour Party. Lee had been a committed socialist for some time, having read a large amount of Marxist literature over the years. He is said to have heard the speeches of Bob Semple and Harry Scott Bennett through the bars of his jail cell, by 1920, Lee was on the Labour Partys national executive. In 1921, Lee contested the by-election in the Auckland East electorate caused by the resignation of Arthur Myers, in the 1922 general election, however, he stood again and was elected. He soon became one of the better known Members of Parliament, noted for his powerful oratory and he also played a considerable role in the Labour Partys internal policy formulation, where he had a strong interest in foreign affairs, defence and economics. Lee was re-elected in the 1925 election for Auckland East with a majority of 750, following objections, the boundary between the Parnell and Auckland East electorates was adjusted to include a hotel in the Parnell electorate. So after the 1928 election, Lee took a job managing the Palace Hotel in Rotorua for Ernest Davis, in the 1931 election, Lee won the electorate of Grey Lynn, having controversially defeated another former MP, Fred Bartram, for the Labour nomination. The major political issue of the day was the Great Depression, Lee also wrote his first novel, Children of the Poor — the book was largely autobiographical, and was a considerable success. The book argued that poverty generated crime and vice, and that only a socialist program could solve societys problems, in the early 1930s Lee served on the Auckland Rugby Leagues board and later served as chairman. In 1935, he was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal, when Labour won the 1935 election with a large majority, and formed its first government, many expected Lee to enter Cabinet

14.
James Fletcher (industrialist)
–
Sir James Fletcher was a New Zealand industrialist who founded Fletcher Construction, one of the countrys largest firms. His son, Sir James Fletcher Junior, continued to build the corporation, Fletcher was born at Kirkintilloch, Scotland, and was educated in Glasgow. He was the sixth of thirteen children and he migrated to Dunedin, New Zealand in 1908. He donated New Zealand Marble to the town of Kirkintilloch in 1925 to construct a War Memorial which stands today at the entrance to the towns Peel Park, in 1908 he established a building business with his brother William John, known as Fletcher Brothers. In 1916, his brother John emigrated to Dunedin and joined the company, and the partnership was formed as a liability company. In 1940, the company was renamed Fletcher Holdings, Fletcher moved the businesses headquarters to Auckland in 1925. The company grew despite the economic conditions, completing a number of major construction projects, such as the Chateau Tongariro. Following the election of the First Labour Government in 1935, Fletcher established a friendship with the government. Fletchers built some of the first state houses in New Zealand, Fletcher was seconded by the government in 1942. His second eldest son, also called James, took over the running of Fletcher Holdings at this time, throughout the Second World War he held several positions, first as Commissioner of Defence Construction, then Superintendent of Military Works, and later Controller of Shipping. Fletcher had many business interests, including the Imperial Chemical Industries, the Tasman Pulp and Paper Company. Fletcher Senior was knighted in the 1946 New Year Honours, James Muir Cameron Fletcher Hugh Fletcher Fletcher Construction Fletcher Challenge Goldsmith, Paul. Fletchers, A Centennial History of Fletcher Building, no Job Too Big, A History of Fletcher Construction, Volume I, 1909–1940

15.
Fletcher Construction
–
The Fletcher Construction Company Limited is a New Zealand construction company and a subsidiary of Fletcher Building. It and Fletcher Residential make up the Construction division of Fletcher Building, Fletcher Construction is widely recognised in New Zealand, and has participated in various major projects including constructing the Auckland Sky Tower. The firm was known as Fletcher and Morris and later became Fletcher Bros, the first house they built together, in 1909, still stands and is open to the public in Dunedin. The company itself was first registered as a liability company in 1919. In 1925 the company headquarters was moved to Auckland, and in 1940 Fletcher Construction became a subsidiary of the Fletcher Holdings group, in 1942, following the resignation of his father to help New Zealands war effort, James Fletcher junior became Managing Director of the company. Fletcher junior placed an emphasis on the firms building products manufacturing divisions. Fletchers, A Centennial History of Fletcher Building, no Job Too Big, A History of Fletcher Construction, Volume I, 1909-1940

16.
Inner city
–
The inner city is the central area of a major city or metropolis. Inner city areas tend to have population densities than outer suburbs, with more of the population living inside multi-floored townhouses. Sociologists sometimes turn this euphemism into a designation, applying the term inner city to such residential areas. However, some city areas of American cities have undergone gentrification. Such connotations are less common in countries, where deprived areas may be located in outlying parts of cities. For instance, in many European and Brazilian cities, the city is the most prosperous part of the metropolis, where housing is expensive. Poverty and crime are more associated with the distant suburbs, the same is true of many American cities, like New York and San Francisco, and is becoming true of other cities as they become revitalized. The Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Swedish words for suburb often have a negative connotation similar to that of the English term inner city, the American sociological usage is rooted in the middle 20th century. The loss of population and affluent taxpayers caused many inner city communities to fall into urban decay, late in the century, many such areas underwent gentrification, especially in the Northeast and West coast, depriving them of the inner city label despite their unchanged location. Notable exceptions are cities built in the 20th century, usually planned with modernist concepts, such as Brasília, Goiânia, Belo Horizonte, Campo Grande and Palmas, under the personal car culture. Nevertheless, since the 1990s, thousands of walled townhouses and condos are being built in, inside the Inner City, Life Under the Cutting Edge. This book takes Hackney in London as a study of inner city urban deprivation

17.
Berhampore, New Zealand
–
Berhampore is a suburb of Wellington, New Zealand. It lies towards the south of the city, seven kilometres from the city centre and it is surrounded by the suburbs of Vogeltown, Newtown, Melrose, Island Bay, Kingston, and Mornington. The suburb was named after Berhampore in Bengal, one of the battlefields at the start of the Battle of Plassey of 1757, also surrounding Berhampore is the Berhampore Golf Course as well as a very extensive green belt with many walkways and tracks connecting outlying areas. The suburb also boasts some of Wellingtons best all weather sports fields, on Adelaide Road, alongside the golf course there is a skateboard / bmx park, right by a kids mountain bike track. Residents of Berhampore are both ethnically and socio-economically diverse and contribute to the atmosphere of their surrounding communities, recent traffic calming by Wellington City Council in Adelaide Road and Luxford Street has helped create a more defined sense of community in Berhampore. Recently in New Zealands Sunday Star Times Berhampore was considered one of the top three places for property investment in New Zealand. The housing stock in Berhampore is a mix of lower to middle value properties. The Centennial Flats (also known as the Berhampore State Flats, located at 493–507 Adelaide Road, are an example of the international style of architecture. They were designed by F. Gordon Wilson, chief architect at the Department of Housing Construction, and completed in 1938–39

18.
Dixon Street Flats
–
Dixon Street Flats is a historic building in Wellington, New Zealand designed by the Housing Division of the Ministry of Works. The Dixon Street Flats in central Wellington were completed in 1944 as part of the first Labour Governments state housing program and they were designed by the chief architect of the Department of Housing Construction Gordon Wilson. It was awarded the NZIA gold medal in 1947 and it is considered to be the archetype of Modernist apartment blocks in New Zealand. The building was the first major building and first major apartment block to be completed in Wellington after the Second World War. Ten stories high, it contained 115 one-bedroom flats plus a two-bedroom caretakers flat, the building was classified in 1997 as a Category 1 historic place by Heritage New Zealand

19.
Wellington
–
Wellington is the capital and second most populous urban area of New Zealand, with 405,000 residents. It is at the tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range. Wellington is the population centre of the southern North Island and is the administrative centre of the Wellington Region. It is the worlds windiest city, with a wind speed of over 26 km/h. Situated near the centre of the country, Wellington was well placed for trade. In 1839 it was chosen as the first major planned settlement for British immigrants coming to New Zealand, the settlement was named in honour of the Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington and victor of the Battle of Waterloo. As the nations capital since 1865, the New Zealand Government and Parliament, Supreme Court, despite being much smaller than Auckland, Wellington is also referred to as New Zealands cultural capital. The city is home to the National Archives, the National Library, architectural sights include the Government Building—one of the largest wooden buildings in the world—as well as the iconic Beehive. Wellington plays host to artistic and cultural organisations, including the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. It has an urban culture, with many cafés, restaurants. One of the worlds most liveable cities, the 2014 Mercer Quality of Living Survey ranked Wellington 12th in the world, Wellingtons economy is primarily service-based, with an emphasis on finance, business services, and government. It is the centre of New Zealands film and special effects industries, Wellington ranks as one of New Zealands chief seaports and serves both domestic and international shipping. The city is served by Wellington International Airport, the third busiest airport in the country, Wellingtons transport network includes train and bus lines which reach as far as the Kapiti Coast and Wairarapa, and ferries connect the city to the South Island. Wellington takes its name from Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington and victor of the Battle of Waterloo, his title comes from the town of Wellington in the English county of Somerset. One of the founders of the settlement, Edward Jerningham Wakefield, reported that the settlers took up the views of the directors with great cordiality, in Māori, Wellington has three names. In New Zealand Sign Language, the name is signed by raising the index, middle and ring fingers of one hand, palm forward, to form a W, and shaking it slightly from side to side twice. The citys location close to the mouth of the narrow Cook Strait leads to its vulnerability to strong gales, legends recount that Kupe discovered and explored the district in about the 10th century. The earliest date with hard evidence for Maori living in New Zealand is about 1280, European settlement began with the arrival of an advance party of the New Zealand Company on the ship Tory on 20 September 1839, followed by 150 settlers on the Aurora on 22 January 1840

20.
Miramar, New Zealand
–
Miramar is a suburb of Wellington, New Zealand, south-east of the city centre. It is on the Miramar Peninsula, directly east of the isthmus of Rongotai, Miramar means sea view in Spanish. The name was chosen by the first European to settle in the area, Crawford was a former Royal Navy officer turned businessman and colonist, who arrived in Wellington in 1840. Crawford established a farm on the peninsula, which at the time was known as Watts Peninsula and this lagoon covered much of the low-lying land on the peninsula, now this area is occupied by suburban houses, streets, parks and shops. The original Māori name for the area when it was still an island was Te Motu Kairangi, on 18 November 1904 Miramar Borough was formed. In April 1921, Miramar was incorporated into the City of Wellington, the records of the Miramar Borough Council were transferred to the City of Wellington at the time of amalgamation and can still be accessed today through Wellington City Council. It was called the National Film Unit, in 1979 the NFU moved to Avalon, Lower Hutt, NZ, next to the national television entity Avalon. In the late nineties, Sir Peter Jackson purchased the Film Unit, as it was then known and he used the NFUs facilities to an extreme degree while making Braindead. Since then, Jackson has brought the Film Unit back to Miramar, Jackson filmed the studio scenes of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong in Miramar. Miramar has been hailed by Mexican film director Guillermo del Toro as Hollywood the way God intended it, Miramar is the home of the Miramar Handball Club, the Oriental Rongotai Football Club and the Miramar Rangers

21.
Michael Joseph Savage
–
Michael Joseph Savage PC was the first Labour Prime Minister of New Zealand. He is commonly known as the architect of the welfare state and he was given the title New Zealander of the Century by The New Zealand Herald in 1999. He is the only New Zealand Prime Minister to serve under three British Monarchs and he spent five years attending a state school at Rothesay, the same town as his fathers farm. From 1886, aged 14, to 1893 Savage worked at a wine, Savage also attended evening classes at Benalla College at this time. Although short in stature, Savage had enormous physical strength and made a name as both a boxer and weightlifter while enjoying dancing and many other sports, in 1891 Savage was devastated by the deaths of both his sister Rose and his closest brother Joe. He adopted Joes name and became known as Michael Joseph Savage from then on, after losing his job in 1893, Savage moved to New South Wales, finding work as a labourer and irrigation ditch-digger in Narrandera for seven years. Savage moved back to Victoria in 1900, working a number of jobs and he became active in the Political Labor Council of Victoria, and in 1907 he was chosen as the PLCs candidate to stand for the Wangaratta electorate. Savage had to pull out after the party was not able to fund his deposit and campaign costs and he remained an active party member and became a close friend of PLC member Paddy Webb, with whom he was closely linked in later years. After a farewell function in Rutherglen, Savage emigrated to New Zealand in 1907 and he arrived in Wellington on 9 October, which happened to be Labour Day. There he worked in a variety of jobs, as a miner, flax-cutter and storeman, despite initially intending to join Webb on the West Coast, he decided to move north, arriving in Auckland in 1908. He soon found there with Alf and Elizabeth French and their two children. Alf had come to New Zealand in 1894 on the ship Wairarapa, which was wrecked on Great Barrier Island, Savage served as patron of the New Zealand Rugby League. Savage at first opposed the formation of the original New Zealand Labour Party as he viewed the grouping as insufficiently socialistic, instead he became the chairman of the New Zealand Federation of Labour, known as the Red Feds. There, he assisted with organizing meetings and group sessions and helped to distributed their socialist newspaper, in the 1911 and 1914 general election campaigns, Savage unsuccessfully stood as the Socialist candidate for Auckland Central, coming second each time to Albert Glover of the Liberal Party. During World War I he opposed conscription, arguing that the conscription of wealth should precede the conscription of men, savages opposition to conscription was not absolute, rather based on balance. Indeed, he complied with an order and entered a training camp in 1918. In 1919 Savage was elected as a Labour candidate to both the Auckland City Council and the Auckland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board in local body elections. He served on the Charitable Aid Board until 1922 and as a councillor until 1923 but was re-elected in 1927, remaining in office until 1935

22.
Panmure, New Zealand
–
Panmure is a south-eastern suburb of Auckland City, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located 11 kilometres southeast of the city centre, close to the banks of the Tāmaki River. To the north lies the suburb of Tāmaki, and to the west is the cone of Maungarei / Mount Wellington, the Government bought the Kohimaramara block from Ngati Paoa in 1841. In January 1842 Felton Mathew surveyed Tehmaki into 37 farms totalling 3,856 acres, part of this became the Fencible settlement of Panmure, between Maungarei and the Tāmaki River. The Maori name for the area was Tauoma, one of the traditional portages between the Waitemata Harbour and the Manukau Harbour was near here. 4.6 km up the Tāmaki River Maori would beach their waka at the end of a small creek and drag them overland to the Manukau harbour. During the Musket wars in late September 1821, Mokaia Pa was the scene of fighting and was sacked by 4000 musket carrying warriors such as Nga Puhi from the north led by Hongi Hika. The fighting devastated what had been the Ngati Paoa population centre of the Auckland Isthmus during pre-European times which had a population of about 7,000. 3000 men with up to 100 muskets took part in the defence of the Pa but after a close, Mokaia Pa, on the headland to the east of the Panmure lagoon, was visited in 1820 by the missionary Samuel Marsden. In 1848,80 Fencible families came here from Ireland and England on the ship Clifton and they called the area Maggotty Hollow. Located on the Tāmaki River, Panmure was favoured by Felton Mathew to be the new capital of New Zealand, william Hobson, however, decided otherwise, and the new town of Auckland arose further to the west along the shores of the Waitemata Harbour. Panmure was then created as a fencible settlement, where retired soldiers were contracted to defend the settlement in return for land. The soldiers had to give 12 days military service per year, the only time they were called to arms was in 1851 when a flotilla of 20 waka took about 350 warriors to Mechanics Bay to attack Auckland. The Panmure fencibles were issued ammunition to defend the Tāmaki River, only the Onehunga fencibles were marched to the hill over looking Mechanics Bay to join a British line regiment. In the 1863 attack on Auckland the government used mainly professional soldiers instead. Panmure was an important town and port as it was placed near the narrowest part of the isthmus. Panmure prospered partly due to being on the route between Auckland and the much larger settlement of Howick in the 1800s. People and goods used the ferry at the point below Mokoia Pa. Major recent developments in the include the opening of Sylvia Park

23.
Lower Hutt
–
Lower Hutt is a city in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is administered by the Hutt City Council and is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area and it is New Zealands seventh most populous city, with a population of 103,400. The city covers an area of 377 km2 around the half of the Hutt Valley. It is separated from Wellington proper by the harbour, and from Upper Hutt by the Taitā Gorge, though it is administered by the Hutt City Council, neither the New Zealand Geographic Board nor the Local Government Act recognise the name Hutt City. This name has led to confusion, as Upper Hutt is administered by a city council, the Upper Hutt City Council. Before European settlement, thick forest covered most of the Hutt Valley, Māori inhabited the shoreline, with a pa at each end of Petone beach. The local Māori welcomed the arrival of the New Zealand Company ship Tory in 1839, the first immigrant ship, the Aurora, arrived on 22 January 1840, still celebrated every year on the Monday closest as Wellingtons Anniversary Day. A settlement, Britannia, grew up close to the mouth of the Hutt River, the city takes its name from the river, named after the founding member, director and chairman of the New Zealand Company, Sir William Hutt. Within months of settlement the river flooded, and in March 1840 the majority of Britannia settlers decided to move to Thorndon, in the 1840s an area on the west bank of the Hutt River formed the village then known as Aglionby. In 1846 conflict arose between settlers and Māori, which led to skirmishes in the Hutt Valley Campaign, the 1855 Wairarapa earthquake raised part of the lower valley, allowing reclamation of land from swamp. The fault escarpment from the earthquake is still visible, notably at Hutt Central School, the railway line from central Wellington reached Lower Hutt station in April 1874, with the line travelling north up the west side of the river to Silverstream opening two years later. Before the Second World War, urban settlement in the lower Hutt Valley concentrated mainly on Petone, central Lower Hutt and Eastbourne, two years later the railway workshops moved from Petone to a new larger site off the new branch at Woburn. By the end of the 1950s, Lower Hutt had a population of 80,000, the Hutt City Council is made up of a mayor and 12 councillors. Ray Wallace was elected Lower Hutt mayor in 2010, succeeding David Ogden, the citys six electoral wards each elect two councillors. Neighbouring councils are Wellington City Council, Porirua City Council to the north, Upper Hutt City Council to the north-east, the boundaries of the Lower Hutt city local body have evolved from a series of amalgamations and boundary changes over the years. The Hutt County Council was established in 1877 and covered the region from Wellingtons south coast up to Waikanae, in 1941 Lower Hutt became a city. Lower Hutt is covered by two electorates, Hutt South and Rimutaka and two Māori electorates, Ikaroa-Rāwhiti and Te Tai Tonga. The city centres on the valley of the Hutt River

24.
Marae
–
A marae malaʻe, meʻae, malae and mālaʻe is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies. In all these languages, the word also means cleared, free of weeds, trees, in the Rapanui culture of Easter Island ahu has become a synonym for the whole marae complex). In some modern Polynesian societies, notably that of the Māori of New Zealand, however, in tropical Polynesia, most marae were destroyed or abandoned with the arrival of Christianity in the 19th century and some of them have become an attraction for tourists or archaeologists. Nevertheless, the place where the marae were built are still considered as tapu in most islands, the word has been reconstructed by linguists to Eastern Oceanic *malaqe with the meaning open, cleared space used as meeting-place or ceremonial place. Like the related institutions of old Polynesia, the marae is a wāhi tapu, in Māori usage, the marae atea is the open space in front of the wharenui or meeting house. However, the marae is generally used to refer to the whole complex, including the buildings. This area is used for pōwhiri – welcome ceremonies featuring oratory, some marae do not allow women to perform oratory there. The meeting house is the locale for important meetings, sleepovers, the wharekai is used primarily for communal meals, but other activities may be carried out there. Many of the associated with marae in tropical Polynesia are retained in the Māori context. For example, the word refers to the bench where the speakers sit. Marae occur in various sizes, with some wharenui being a bit bigger than a double garage, a marae is a meeting place registered as a reserve under the Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993. Each marae has a group of trustees who are responsible for the operations of the marae, the Act governs the regulation of marae as reservations and sets out the responsibilities of the trustees in relation to the beneficiaries. Generally each marae has a charter which the trustees have negotiated with the beneficiaries of the marae, the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute Act,1963 was passed and the institute built to maintain the tradition of Whakairo. The NZMACI is responsible for the restoration and building of over 40 marae around New Zealand, like in pre-European times, marae continue to be the location of many ceremonial events, including birthdays, weddings, and anniversaries. The most important event located at marae is the tangihanga, tangihanga are the means by which the dead are farewelled and the surviving family members supported in Māori society. As indicated by Kaai and Higgins, the importance of the tangihanga, most iwi, hapū, and even many small settlements have their own marae. An example of such a settlement with its own marae is at Hongoeka Bay, Plimmerton. Since the second half of the 20th century, Māori in urban areas have been establishing intertribal marae such as Maraeroa in eastern Porirua, for many Māori, the marae is just as important to them as their own homes

25.
New Zealand National Party
–
The New Zealand National Party is a centre-right political party in New Zealand. It is one of two parties in contemporary New Zealand politics, alongside its historic rival, the New Zealand Labour Party. The party originated in 1936 with the merger of the United and Reform parties, National is the nations second-oldest extant political party. National governed for four periods in the course of the 20th century and it has favoured economic liberal policies since the 1990s. Since November 2008, National has been the largest party in minority governments with support from the centrist United Future, the liberal ACT Party, Bill English has been the party leader and Prime Minister of New Zealand since 12 December 2016. The New Zealand National Party has been characterised as conservative and liberal, with outlying populist, the partys principles, last revised in 2003, seek a safe, prosperous and successful New Zealand that creates opportunities for all New Zealanders to reach their personal goals and dreams. It supports a limited welfare state but says that work, merit, innovation and personal initiative must be encouraged to reduce unemployment, historically, the party has supported a higher degree of protectionism and interventionism than it has in recent decades. The last major interventionist policy was Prime Minister Robert Muldoons massive infrastructure projects designed to ensure New Zealands energy independence after the 1973 oil shock, Think Big. The Fourth National Government mostly carried on the sweeping reforms of the Fourth Labour Government known as Rogernomics. Following a moderate Fifth Labour Government, the Fifth National Government of New Zealand took power in 2008 under John Key. For instance they extended free general practitioner visits to children under 13 as part of their 2014 election package, in the most recent general election, in 2014, the National Party ran a campaign focusing on stability. They promised to limit new spending every year, to not introduce any new taxes and they also campaigned on the possibility of moderate tax cuts within the next few years and are generally in favour of free-trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The National Party was formed in May 1936, but its roots go further back. The party came about as the result of a merger between the United Party and the Reform Party, historically, the Liberal and Reform parties had competed against each other, but from 1931 until 1935 a United-Reform Coalition held power in New Zealand. The coalition went into the 1935 election under the title of the National Political Federation, the two parties were cut down to 19 seats between them. Another factor was a party, the Democrat Party formed by Albert Davy. The new party split the vote and aided Labours victory. In hopes of countering Labours rise, United and Reform decided to turn their alliance into a single party and this party, the New Zealand National Party, was formed at a meeting held in Wellington on 13 and 14 May 1936

26.
New Zealand general election, 1938
–
The 1938 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliaments 26th term. It resulted in the governing Labour Party being re-elected, although the newly founded National Party gained an amount of ground. The Labour Party had won a victory in the 1935 elections. Shortly after the elections, the two Ratana-aligned MPs also merged into the Labour Party, giving Labour a total of fifty-five seats, the government, a coalition of the United Party and the Reform Party, had won only nineteen seats. Shortly after their defeat, United and Reform agreed to merge into the National Party, however, Labour remained popular with the public, and the Prime Minister, Michael Joseph Savage, was widely praised for his welfare reform. The leadership of the National Party, by contrast, was associated by the public with the Great Depression. The date for the main 1938 elections was 15 October, a Saturday, elections to the four Maori electorates were held the day before. 995,173 people were registered to vote, and there was a turnout of 92. 9% and this turnout was the highest ever recorded at that point, although it was later exceeded in the two elections after World War II and in the 1984 elections. The number of seats being contested was 80, a number which had been fixed since 1902, the 1938 election saw a decisive win for the governing Labour Party, which won fifty-three seats. This was a drop of two from what it held prior to the election, the National Party won twenty-five seats, an increase of six from that the United/Reform coalition had previously won. Both Labour and National increased their share of the vote, with Labour winning 55. 8%. This increase was at the expense of the Democrat Party and the agrarian monetary reformist Country Party, the Country Party lost the two seats it held as, unlike 1935, Labour stood candidates in the seats held by the two Country Party members. Hence Harold Rushworth did not stand in the Bay of Islands seat, independent candidates also lost ground, with only two being elected, Harry Atmore and Charles Wilkinson. But Robert Wright was defeated for the new electorate of Wellington West by Labour despite National not running a candidate against him. An analysis of men and women on the rolls against the votes recorded showed that in the 1938 election 92. 85% of those on the European rolls voted, men 93. 43% and women 92. 27%. In the 1935 election the figures were 90. 75% with men 92. 02%, as the Māori electorates did not have electoral rolls they could not be included. The First 50 Years, A History of the New Zealand National Party, the Politics of Equality, New Zealand’s Adventures in Democracy

27.
New Zealand general election, 1949
–
The 1949 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliaments 29th term. It saw the governing Labour Party defeated by the opposition National Party and this marked the end of the First Labour government and the beginning of the First National government. The Labour Party had formed its first administration after winning the 1935 elections, the Prime Minister, Peter Fraser, was increasingly weary. Ongoing shortages after World War II also eroded public support for the government, the National Partys decision not to repeal Labours social welfare policies also increased its appeal. The date for the elections was a Wednesday 30 November. Elections to the four Māori electorates were held the day before—the 1949 elections were the last in which Māori voted on a different day,1,113,852 people were registered to vote, although rolls for the Māori seats were woefully inadequate. Voter turnout for the elections is disputed, given the problems with the Māori roll—some sources place it at 93.5 percent, regardless, the turnout was relatively high for the time. The number of seats being contested was 80, a number which had been fixed since 1902, the 1949 election saw the governing Labour Party defeated by a twelve-seat margin. It has previously held a four-seat majority, Labour won a total of 34 seats, as opposed to Nationals 46. The popular vote was considerably closer—Labour won 47.2 percent to Nationals 51.9 percent, No seats were won by minor party candidates or by independents. John A. Lee stood for Grey Lynn as the sole Democratic Labour candidate and got 2,627 votes, the table below shows the results of the 1949 general election, Key Labour National Table footnotes, Fraser, S. E. The First 50 Years, A History of the New Zealand National Party, the Last Years of the First Labour Government 1945–1949. New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946–1987, Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science

28.
Clapboard (architecture)
–
Clapboard in modern usage is a word for long, thin boards used to cover walls and roofs of buildings. Clapboards were originally riven radially producing triangular or feather-edged sections, attached thin side up, later, the boards were radially sawn in a type of sawmill called a clapboard mill, producing vertical-grain clapboards. The more commonly used boards in New England are vertical-grain boards, depending on the diameter of the log, cuts are made from 4½ to 6½ deep along the full length of the log. Each time the log turns for the cut, it is rotated ⅝ until it has turned 360°. This gives the radially sawn clapboard its taper and true vertical grain, flat-grain clapboards are cut tangent to the annual growth rings of the tree. As this technique was common in most parts of the British Isles, it was carried by immigrants to their colonies in the Americas and in Australia, flat-sawn wood cups more and does not hold paint as well as radially sawn wood. Chamferboards are an Australian form of weatherboarding using tongue-and-groove joints to link the boards together to give a flatter external appearance than regular angled weatherboards, some modern clapboards are made up of shorter pieces of wood finger jointed together with an adhesive. In North America clapboards were historically made of oak, pine. Modern clapboards are available in red cedar and pine, in some areas, clapboards were traditionally left as raw wood, relying upon good air circulation and the use of semi-hardwoods to keep the boards from rotting. These boards eventually go grey as the tannins are washed out from the wood, more recently clapboard has been tarred or painted—traditionally black or white due to locally occurring minerals or pigments. In modern clapboard these colors remain popular, but with a wider variety due to chemical pigments. In New Zealand, clapboard housing dominates buildings before 1960, clapboard, with a corrugated iron roof, was found to be a cost-effective building style. After the big earthquakes of 1855 and 1931, wooden buildings were perceived as being vulnerable to damage. Clapboard is always referred to as weatherboard in New Zealand, newer, cheaper designs often imitate the form of clapboard construction as siding made of vinyl, aluminum, fiber cement, or other man-made materials. Clinker Research report containing photos of a roof in Virginia

29.
Hip roof
–
A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus a hipped roof house has no gables or other vertical sides to the roof, a square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on houses could have two sides and two trapezoidal ones. A hip roof on a plan has four faces. They are almost always at the pitch or slope, which makes them symmetrical about the centerlines. Hip roofs often have a consistent level fascia, meaning that a gutter can be fitted all around, Hip roofs often have dormer slanted sides. Hip roofs are more difficult to construct than a gabled roof, Hip roofs can be constructed on a wide variety of plan shapes. Each ridge is central over the rectangle of the building below it, the triangular faces of the roof are called the hip ends, and they are bounded by the hips themselves. The hips and hip rafters sit on a corner of the building. Where the building has a corner, a valley makes the join between the sloping surfaces. They have the advantage of giving a compact, solid appearance to a structure, in modern domestic architecture, hip roofs are commonly seen in bungalows and cottages, and have been integral to styles such as the American Foursquare. However, the hip roof has been used in different styles of architecture. A hip roof is self-bracing, requiring less diagonal bracing than a gable roof, Hip roofs are thus much better suited for hurricane regions than gable roofs. Hip roofs have no large, flat, or slab-sided ends to catch wind and are much more stable than gable roofs. However, for a region, the roof also has to be steep-sloped. When wind flows over a shallow sloped hip roof, the roof can behave like an airplane wing, lift is then created on the leeward side. The flatter the roof, the more likely this will happen, a steeper pitched hip roof tends to cause the wind to stall as it goes over the roof, breaking up the effect. If the roof slopes are less than 35 degrees from horizontal, greater than 35 degrees, and not only does wind blowing over it encounter a stalling effect, but the roof is actually held down on the wall plate by the wind pressure

30.
Gable
–
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the system used, which reflects climate, material availability. A gable wall or gable end more commonly refers to the wall, including the gable. A variation of the gable is a gable, which has a stairstep design to accomplish the sloping portion. Gable ends of more recent buildings are often treated in the way as the Classic pediment form. But unlike Classical structures, which operate through trabeation, the ends of many buildings are actually bearing-wall structures. Thus, the detailing can be ambiguous or misleading, gable style is also used in the design of fabric structures, with varying degree sloped roofs, dependent on how much snowfall is expected. Sharp gable roofs are a characteristic of the Gothic and classical Greek styles of architecture, the opposite or inverted form of a gable roof is a V-roof or butterfly roof. While a front-gabled building faces the street with its gable, a building faces it with its cullis. The terms are used in architecture and city planning to determine a building in its urban situation, front-gabled buildings are considered typical for German city streets in the medieval gothic period, while later Renaissance buildings, influenced by Italian architecture are often side-gabled. In America, front-gabled houses, such as the Gablefront house, were primarily between the early 19th century and 1920. A wimperg is a German and Dutch word for a Gothic ornamental gable with tracery over windows or portals and it was a typical element in Gothic Architecture especially in cathedral architecture. Wimpergs often had crockets or other elements in the Gothic style. The intention behind the wimperg was the perception of increased height, the gable end roof is a poor design for hurricane regions, as it easily peels off in strong winds. The part of the roof overhangs the triangular wall very often creates a trap that can catch wind like an umbrella. A series of ornamental timber gables, from existing examples in England and France of the 16th Century

31.
Larder
–
A larder is a cool area for storing food prior to use. Larders were commonplace in houses before the use of the refrigerator. In Australia and New Zealand, larders were placed on the south or east sides of the house for the same reason, many larders have small unglazed windows with the window opening covered in fine mesh. This allows free circulation of air without allowing flies to enter, many larders also have tiled or painted walls to simplify cleaning. Older larders, and especially those in larger houses, have hooks in the ceiling to hang joints of meat or game, others have insulated containers for ice, anticipating the future development of refrigerators. A pantry may contain a thrawl, a used in Derbyshire and Yorkshire. In the late medieval hall, a thrawl would have been appropriate to a larder, for this reason, a buttery was usually called the cellar by this stage. Very few modern houses have larders, since this need is now satisfied by refrigerators, freezers, and this is reflected in the word larder, which in origin is a place for storing bacon. It comes from the French word meaning ‘bacon’ that also gave us lard, and the lardon, in medieval households the word larder referred both to an office responsible for fish, jams, and meat, as well as to the room where these commodities were kept. It was headed by a larderer, the Scots term for larder was spence, and so in Scotland larderers were known as spencers. This is one of the derivations of the modern surname, the office generally was subordinated to the kitchen and existed as a separate office only in larger households. It was closely connected with other offices of the kitchen, such as the saucery, larders were used in the Indus River Valley to store bones of goats, oxen, and sheep. These larders were made of clay pots

32.
First National Government of New Zealand
–
The First National Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 1949 to 1957. It was a conservative government best remembered for its role in the 1951 waterfront dispute and it also began the repositioning of New Zealand in the cold war environment. Although New Zealand continued to assist Britain in situations such as the Malayan Emergency, it now connected to Australia and the United States through the ANZUS agreement. ”In 1957. As summed up by Sidney Holland in a foreword, ‘New Zealand is a happier, healthier, abolished the Legislative Council, thus making New Zealands parliament unicameral, see Suicide squad. Established the position of Deputy Prime Minister, took the side of employers in the 1951 waterfront dispute Post-war rationing and price controls on property abolished. Formed a partnership with Fletcher Construction to build a pulp and paper mill at Kawerau and this period marked a shift in New Zealands foreign policy. Before World War II New Zealand lacked an independent foreign policy, instead opting to simply follow, at the start of the war it had been assumed that the Royal Navy would protect New Zealand, but the Fall of Singapore showed this to be a false assumption. New Zealand turned to the United States for protection, the beginning of the Cold War, and communist successes in China made many New Zealanders feel in need of this protection. New Zealand therefore entered the ANZUS pact with Australia and the United States, fear of the communist threat from Asia also motivated the introduction of compulsory military training and New Zealands participation in the Korean War and the Malayan Emergency. However, there was considerable support for Britain, which led to New Zealand giving Britain moral support during the Suez Crisis. The government maintained the state created by the previous, Labour. However some modifications were made, such as allowing state housing tenants to purchase their homes and enabling families to capitalise their family benefits in order to buy a house. ”That same year, the loan was introduced. A year later, universal superannuation was doubled, and a social assistance scheme for the underprivileged was introduced. In 1954, widows benefit was extended to deserted wives after divorce in some cases, the National Party was formed in 1936, after the Labour Party took office for the first time, displacing the Liberal-Reform coalition. The Liberal and Reform parties officially merged into the National Party, initially basing themselves on opposition to Labour, however the popularity of these policies soon became evident, and National began to moderate its opposition, promising that it would not abolish the welfare system Labour had enacted. By 1949, Labour had been in power for 14 years, Labours interventionist ethos combined with the economic restrictions caused by World War II meant that the economy was highly regulated and consumer choice limited. On a relatively small swing, National gained eight seats and became the government for the first time and this was a snap election called after the 1951 waterfront dispute. The dispute was a conflict between the dockworkers union and the Waterfront Industry Commission, representing employers

33.
Second Labour Government of New Zealand
–
The Second Labour Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 1957 to 1960. It was most notable for raising taxes on alcohol, cigarettes and petrol, the Black Budget was passed which, while countering an already existing balance-of payments problem, raised taxes on alcohol, cigarettes, automobiles, and petrol. Industrialisation was pursued both as a means of import substitution and to develop a mature economy. Signed a formal agreement for Consolidated Zinc to build both an aluminium smelter at Tiwai Point and a station in Manapouri. All tax-payers were given a rebate of £100 at the commencement of the PAYE income tax system. The Companies Special Investigations Act allowed for the supervision of certain company receiverships, a Technicians’ Certification Authority and a Council for Technical Education were established, the latter of which was meant to advise on the kind of education required for commerce and industry. By 1960, the first technical institutes began operation as full-time bodies, in the 1959 budget, income tax was reduced, by two stages, to about the 1957 level. In the 1960 budget, pensions and benefits were raised, together with state employees’ salaries, the sales tax on motor vehicles, along with duties on cigarettes and petrol, were somewhat reduced. Taxes on cigarettes, petrol, beer were reduced again at the end of the year, by early 1960, retail turnover was at a record level, and there was an easing up on import controls. The Reserve Act of New Zealand Amendment Bill affirmed the right of the Crown to control credit. By 1960, taxes had been reduced to a pre-1958 level, an Industrial Development Fund was established with £11 million in foreign exchange held at the Reserve Bank for allocation to promising projects. Declared Waitangi Day to be a day of thanksgiving through the Waitangi Day Act 1960. Universal superannuation was sharply increased in 1959-60 in order to equate it with the age benefit. As a result of the Second Labour Government’s welfare initiatives, pensions, the value of family allowances was raised from 4. 1% to 6. 2% of nominal male wages. From 1959 to 1960, the percentage of income spent on family benefits rose from 2. 7% to 3. 1%. The Social Security Amendment Act removed the means test for blind beneficiaries of disability benefits and this change led to an increase in the number of blind workers in industry and in the public service. ”The capital test on orphans’, age, invalidity, and unemployment benefits was repealed. The age benefit for a person was raised to 36. 9% of the nominal adult male wage index. The Government Service Equal Pay Act was passed in 1960 to put an end to male and female pay scales in the public service

34.
Third National Government of New Zealand
–
The Third National Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 1975 to 1984. It was an economically and socially conservative government, which aimed to preserve the Keynesian economic system established by the First Labour government while also being socially conservative. Throughout its three terms it was led by Robert Muldoon, a populist but antagonistic politician who was described as his partys best asset. The government continued the generally interventionist economic policies of governments in New Zealand. Such steps towards liberalisation made during this term were generally the initiatives of other politicians. Energy In 1980, the government launched the Think Big programme of industrial projects, mainly based around energy projects. This was a response to the oil shocks of the 1970s, Cabinet Minister Derek Quigley publicly criticised the Think Big policy and was demoted from Cabinet. Controlling inflation The control of inflation was an important goal for Muldoon, there was a high level of inflation worldwide in the 1970s and 1980s, leading Muldoon to intervene more and more dramatically in the economy. Liberalisation The government pursued a number of liberalisation policies. In 1982 the land transport sector was deregulated, which allowed the restructuring of the New Zealand Railways Corporation later in the decade, the Closer Economic Relations free trade agreement with Australia was signed in 1983. 1976 saw the phasing out of commodity subsidies and entitlement to the Additional Benefit, in 1976, the administration of many benefits, such as unemployment, sickness and the Domestic Purposes Benefit, was tightened up. Income exemptions, which the Third Labour Government had abolished and replaced with tax rebates, were reintroduced, in 1977, the family assistance tax rebate was significantly extended. As note by Brian Easton, the tax relief for a young family “could be up to $13 a week more than for a man without children, on the same income. ”In addition, full relief was available to families whose head “was on up to ten per cent above average earnings. ”The Disabled Person’s Community Welfare Act was further implemented in 1978. A new income-tax scale was introduced, with the aim being switching income from low-income recipients to main earners. A new income-tax scale was introduced in 1978, which transferred income to main earners, the purpose of this change was to increase the income of one-earner families relative to one-and-a-bit earner families. The period of absence from New Zealand during which eligibility for National Superannuation was retained was lowered to 3 months, eligibility for the Additional benefit was extended to national superannuitants. Equal eligibility for the unemployment benefit was introduced for married men and women, Waitangi Day The government renamed New Zealand Day, established by the previous Third Labour Government, back to Waitangi Day in 1976 with the second Waitangi Day Act. Citizenship law When the Treaty of Waitangi made New Zealand a part of the British Empire, in the 1970s, Britain reacted to what was seen as excessive non-white migration from the Commonwealth by restricting migration from all Commonwealth countries

35.
Robert Muldoon
–
Sir Robert David Muldoon GCMG CH, sometimes known as Rob Muldoon, served as the 31st Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1975 to 1984, as leader of the governing National Party. Muldoon was a Minister of Finance, a prominent member of the National Party, Muldoon was a polarising figure and has been described as a bully, an enigma and a strong believer in the battler, the little man, the ordinary citizen and his or her rights. Robert David Muldoon was born on 25 September 1921, to parents James Henry Muldoon, at age five Muldoon slipped while playing on the front gate, damaging his cheek and resulting in a distinctive scar. When Muldoon was aged eight, his father was admitted to Auckland Mental Hospital at Point Chevalier and this left Muldoons mother to raise him on her own. During this time Muldoon came under the formative influence of his fiercely intelligent, iron-willed maternal grandmother, Jerusha. Though Muldoon never accepted her creed, he did develop under her influence a potent ambition, a consuming interest in politics, Muldoon won a scholarship to attend Mount Albert Grammar School from 1933 to 1936. He left school at age 15, finding work at Fletcher Construction, in 1951 Muldoon married Thea Dale Flyger, who he had met through the Junior Nationals. The couple had three children, Barbara, Jennifer and Gavin, Muldoon joined the New Zealand Army in November 1940 during the Second World War, and served in the South Pacific and in Italy. While in Italy he served in the battalion as two other future National Party colleagues, Duncan MacIntyre and Jack Marshall. He completed his training as an accountant, sitting his final exams to become an accountant while in Italy and he returned to New Zealand after the war as the countrys first fully qualified cost accountant, having worked in a chartered accountancy firm in the United Kingdom for a year. In March 1947 Muldoon joined the newly founded Mount Albert branch of the Junior Nationals and he quickly became active in the party, making two sacrificial-lamb bids for Parliament against entrenched but vulnerable Labour incumbents in 1954 and 1957. But in 1960 he won election as MP for the suburban Auckland electorate of Tamaki, winning against Bob Tizard, in 1960, an electoral swing brought Keith Holyoake back to power as Prime Minister of the Second National Government. Muldoon would represent the Tamaki constituency for the next 32 years, Muldoon, along with Duncan MacIntyre and Peter Gordon who entered parliament in the same year, became known as the Young Turks because of their criticism of the partys senior leadership. From his early years as a Member of Parliament, Muldoon became known as Piggy, Muldoon himself seemed to relish his controversial public profile. Muldoon opposed both abortion and capital punishment, in 1961 he was one of ten National MPs to cross the floor and vote with the Opposition to remove capital punishment for murder from the Crimes Bill that the Second National Government had introduced. In 1977 he voted against the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Act 1977 when the issue came up as a conscience vote. Muldoon was appointed in 1961 to the Public Accounts Committee, which in 1962 became the Public Expenditure Committee and he was well informed on all aspects of the government, and could participate in many debates in Parliament. Muldoon displayed a flair for debate and a diligence in his backbench work, following the re-election of Holyoakes government at the 1963 general election, Muldoon was appointed as Under-Secretary to the Minister of Finance, Harry Lake

36.
Rent strike
–
A rent strike is a method of protest commonly employed against large landlords. In a rent strike, a group of tenants come together and this can be a useful tactic of final resort for use against intransigent landlords, but carries the obvious risk of eviction in some cases. These women left behind were seen as a target and were faced with a rent increase of up to 25%. As a result of this rent increase, there was a backlash against the landlords. This was led by Mary Barbour, who with her army would prevent the bailiffs from entering the tenements. The Leeds rent strike in 1914 In early January 1914, around 300 tenants living in the Burley area of Leeds went on rent strike against a 6d increase in rents imposed by the landlords. The rent increase had been called for by the Leeds branch of the Property Owners Association, at a mass meeting of the tenants on Sunday January 10, the rent strike organisers called for a citywide protest against the increase. A week later, the Leeds Trades Council hosted a Labour conference intended to organise mass rent resistance, a Tenants Defence League was formed with a central committee of nine and a mission to spread the rent campaign across the city through a series of public meetings and neighbourhood canvassing. In the end, committee members had been evicted and blacklisted from renting any other home in the area. Kirkby Rent Strike A 14-month-long rent strike initiated by 3,000 tenants on October 9,1972 in the town of Kirkby, outside Liverpool, south Africa massive rent strikes 1980s to end Apartheid and gain ownership of housing by the tenants. The government sent in troops in Soweto in 1987, residents of some public housing have not paid their rents in several years, and in many cases officials have stopped trying to collect and have turned ownership over to tenants. In Soweto, for instance, Government officials say at least 50,000 rental units have been given to tenants, anti-Rent Movement New York 1839-1850s New York City has a long history of tenants using rent strikes to address housing conditions. One of the organizers was 16-year-old Pauline Newman, housewives. It lasted from December 26 until January 9 and led to about 2,000 families having their rents reduced, New York City rent strike over repairs In the winter of 1963-1964, a rent strike erupted in Harlem. It was led by Jesse Gray, a tenant organizer there since 1953, the focus of the strike was not rent levels but poor maintenance. National wave of rent strikes throughout the US in 1960s and early 70s Rent strikes spread through the US in response to the neglect of repairs in both urban private and public housing stock

Lower Hutt (Māori: Awakairangi) is a city in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is …

Lower Hutt from the air, looking eastwards in March 2009.

Christ Church, Taitā, built in 1853 is the oldest church in the Wellington region.

Lower Hutt from Normandale, in the western hills. On the right is the entrance to Wellington Harbour, with Matiu/Somes Island beneath. The Hutt River snakes from the right background to the left mid-ground, entering the harbour between the suburbs of Seaview and Petone. The Wainuiomata Hill Road climbs the hills in the centre background (the track in the middle of the left half of the background is a firebreak, not a road). At the foot of the Wainuiomata Hill Road is the Gracefield industrial area.

Wider view of the Lower Hutt valley. This view shows Wellington in the distance on the extreme right hand side. Past the Lower Hutt CBD in the centre of the photo, and onto Avalon and Taitā on the left-hand side.